Life in the fast (& not so fast) lane.
This is a blog about my adventures and passions - climbing, running, triathlons, ultra-endurance races & training. I call them my little escapades.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Discovering Venus Drive

Refused to get out of bed this morning. My 自然醒 (to be awakened naturally) strategy resulted in me tumbling out of bed close to noon. The sun was blazing through my window and neutralised the air-conditioner in my bedroom. Too hot to run, I decided to wait until it was cooler in the late afternoon to hit the trail.

I started at 3pm, not too bad, there was some overcast alternating with sunshine. Wore my TNF shoes today, and they were so much lighter than my Salomons, my legs took flight and found a nice, strong cadence. It helped too that the trail had mostly dried up over the weekend.

I ran into Durian Loop to avoid the heat, and did my usual route to MR. On the return, I randomly decided to explore the Venus Drive trail, after seeing the signage all the time. It was my first time going into that path despite my years of running at MR. I was curious to see where it led to.

It turned out to be a nice and pleasant little path. Fairly tranquil. First it snaked along the Singapore Island Country Club, then it filtered off to a little trail that reminded me of the 'terrain' at Durian Loop. The path ended at an open carpark - and now it all clicked. I always meet people who come into the Tree Top Walk from that (nearest) carpark, or people who get to the Ranger Station and are desperate for the shortest way out. The Venus Drive carpark was their answer.

The signage at MR said it was 2.4km, but based on my run time, I estimated that it was only about 3km in total, to and fro. Or about 9min each way. That made it a just-nice distance and timing for an impromptu detour or extension in future. Not overly taxing and still within the water-support point of the Ranger Station thereafter.

The weather started to cool down as I headed back. I was pleasantly surprised to still see a number of casual joggers and hikers in MR, especially families (typically the ang-moh ones) with children enjoying the nature.

I also noticed recently that there were many more young monkeys along the route. I guess the mating and birth season must have been late last year, and the young ones are starting to come out and play.